:: 2009 :: 90cm x 30cm :: Acrylics, Gouache, Inks and Markers on Canvas ::
A portrait of two archetypes which have been operating within me for some months now: the Anima and the Animus, two aspects of the Jungian Shadow. It is a common experience among people coming to middle-age to begin sensing the presence of an anthropomorphic unconscious inner personality which emerges as the gender opposite to oneself. Thus, a man should expect to see his female-centred personality traits emerge and a woman vice versa. For me, as a gay man, I had often wondered how this expression would manifest, and interestingly I seem to be exploring both a female Anima, as expected, and male Animus, which is more surprising. They are shown here interacting, with the female bursting through the male’s destructive aspects (symbolised by the blade), continuing the theme of archetypal violence as an instrument of healing...
